Mask Art Statement:
This body of work explores the intersections of art, tools, and place. I experiment with assigning both safety and beauty to an otherwise strictly utilitarian object. Working with the fabrics and fibers I have collected from the individuals using traditional hand sewing techniques, crochet, and folded fabrics bring a sense of familiarity and comfort in the midst of the sudden paradigm shift the global pandemic represents.
The masks will be a record of my experience and interpretation of the personal items, stories, and interviews of the nwaMASKproject participants. I make a stand-alone piece of art that functions as a mask to honor each person's story.
The time I spend participating in this domestic art is simultaneously reflection and action, as well as the creation of a modern artifact. These masks, then, are a visual diary of time spent in isolation—breathing with each stitch and working within the framework of each breath to stay mindful and present, while at the same time slipping back to the thought that every breath needs protection in public.
As an artist who uses textiles to subvert domestic forms, I often make work that assigns abstract marks and gestures to apparently practical forms. masks out of fabrics with personal history, therefore bringing together materiality, texture, and color to evoke specific times and places, and working to foster a sense of timelessness and togetherness in the midst of isolation, shifting a practical object into something fresh and meaningful: artwork that speaks both to the value of tension and the relief when we dissolve into the soft material it can help create.The masks are a record of my experience and interpretation of the personal items, stories, and interviews of nwaMASKproject community members. In honor of each person, I make a stand-alone piece of art that functions as a mask.